Talk to the Hand

This is a hilarious rallying cry for courtesy, written and read by the bestselling author of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves". 'Talk to the hand, coz the face ain't listening', the saying goes.

How did society get so rude? "Talk to the Hand" explores the boorishness of the modern world, and the sense of outrage that infects us when we discover that other people are - generally speaking - crass, selfish and inconsiderate.That man just dropped a cigarette packet on the floor.

Should you do anything? You say to the shop assistant, 'Can you tell me the price of this?

There doesn't appear to be a label' and she says, 'What do you think I am, psychic?' In her follow-up to "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", Lynne Truss asks why rudeness is a universal flashpoint and examines specific sources of affront.

What ever happened to 'please' and 'thank you'? Why does the customer have to do all the work? Why do people behave in public as if they are in private?

Whatever happened to the idea of public-spiritedness?

It's a big rant, essentially. But on the plus side, it's quite short and has virtually no hard facts to slow the argument. You are advised that there is nothing here about pandas or punctuation, and that anyone listening out for grammatical errors will be considered a bit of a bore...